The Notable Names Database (NNDB) is an online database of biographical details of over 40,000 people. Soylent Communications, a sole proprietorship that also hosted the now-defunct Rotten.com,[1] describes NNDB as an "intelligence aggregator" of noteworthy persons, highlighting their interpersonal connections.[2][3] The Rotten.com domain was registered in 1996 by former Apple and Netscape software engineer Thomas E. Dell, who was also known by his internet alias, "Soylent".[4]
Entries
Each entry has an executive summary with an assessment of the person's notability.[5] It also lists their deaths, cause of death, and life risk factors that may affect their lives span such as obesity, cocaine addiction, or dwarfism.[6] Businesspeople and government officials are listed with chronologies of their posts, positions, and board memberships. NNDB has articles on films with user-submitted reviews, discographies of selected music groups, and extensive bibliographies.[5]
NNDB Mapper
The NNDB Mapper, a visual tool for exploring connections between people, was made available in May 2008. It required Adobe Flash 7.[7]